How To Make A Pond In Sims 4

Step One: Change The Terrain

Once you are in the lot you want to build a pond in, your first step is to start deepening the terrain where you want your pond to be.

This means that you need to ‘dig out’ the earth where your pond will go ready to add the water. 

Head to the build mode and select the terrain tool. This will be the tool under the image that looks like a pond on the menu to the left of the bar.

Then, select the tool option shaped like a trowel – this will be the terrain tool to help you sculpt your terrain. 

You will have a range of terrain sculpting tools to choose from, but the one you will need to start making your pond is the lower terrain tool – that’s the one with the arrow pointing downwards into the earth on the right side of the menu. 

Once you have this tool selected, you can start clicking on the earth of your lot, and it will start to ‘sink’. Create the shape of your pond, and will end up with a ditch ready to fill with water.

The more you click, the deeper your pond will be. Alternatively, adjust the speed of your terrain tool using the bars in the center of the menu as well as the size of your terrain brush.

If you accidentally make your pond way too deep and want to undo your sculpting, then you can use the eraser bar or the increase terrain tool (the tool next to the lower terrain tool) to undo this. 

Terrain sculpting is probably the step most Simmers struggle with the most, so don’t be afraid to practice beforehand until you get to grips with the terrain tools.

The more you play around, the more comfortable you will feel using the terrain tools – so bite the bullet and give it a go! 

Step Two: Just Add Water

Once you are happy with the dip and size of your pond, it’s time to add the water. 

Select the water tool from the terrain tool menu. This is the tool that has a waterdrop icon and is underneath the terrain sculpting tool you selected earlier. 

Here, you have four different options – you can either lower or raise the water level of your pond, use the Fill To Height option, which will completely fill your pond to your selected level, or use the remove water tool, which will basically delete the water in your pond.

Using the Fill To Height option will quickly fill your pond, but the other options allow you to be more specific with how full you want your pond to be. 

This means you can create ponds ranging from full and overflowing with water to dried-up ponds with just a little puddle of water.

This allows you to be more creative with your pond’s design and adjust it to the world you are playing in. 

Step Three: Paint The Terrain

Now your pond is in place. It’s time to decorate it so it blends seamlessly into your landscaping and world. 

First, add terrain paint around the outline of your pond to blend it with the rest of the terrain. For this, you need to select the paintbrush tool above your sculpting tool in the terrain tool menu.

You should use dirt terrain textures to make a realistic pond edge all the way around your pond, even if the rest of your lot uses grass or sand terrain.

Soften the brush’s edges, and add darker mud terrain paint closer to the water’s edge. 

Step Four: Add Decor

Finally, it’s time to add some decor to your pond to make it look realistic and alive. 

This includes plants, rocks, logs, and lilypads, which allow you to start spawning turtles and frogs in your pond. You can even add a fishing sign to allow your sims to use this pond as a fishing spot! 

To start, head over to the Outdoor Water Decor menu. This means going back to the original build menu and selecting the tools under the log icon.

Here, you can even change the appearance of the water in your pond – opt for murkier, green water, deep blue water, or crystal clear blue water with floating cherry blossom petals.

What options you have here does depend on what DLC you have added to your Sims 4 game. 

Final Thoughts

Building your own pond in the Sims 4 is not easy, as it requires a few tools and a lot of landscaping to create a really high-quality pond. However, the more practice you try, the better your ponds will look over time. 

So, follow the guide above and get started!